Judge denies abuse of process bid in manslaughter case

An Alberta judge has rejected a bid by defence lawyers to throw out a direct indictment in the case of a Calgary couple charged in the death of a five-yearold child.

Allan and Carolina Perdomo are charged with manslaughter in the July 2015 death of Eneas Emilio Perdomo. An autopsy concluded his death was the result of multiple blunt-force trauma injuries.

Pre-trial arguments in the case are to begin Nov. 19. The couple was committed to stand trial last year at a preliminary hearing.

But last June Justice Richard Neufeld quashed that decision and the indictment to allow the defence to question the lead investigator, and agreed to reopen the preliminary hearing for one day.

He noted the justice system was now in the post-Jordan era and ordered that November trial dates already set in the case remain in place.

In 2016, the Supreme Court’s Jordan decision imposed time limits on how long it can take for a criminal case to go to trial before it is deemed unreasonably delayed.

The Crown elected to go to a direct indictment, which bypasses the need for a preliminary hearing. The defence argued that amounted to an abuse of process.

Neufeld disagreed, saying: “The co-accused have applied to quash a direct indictment brought by the deputy minister of justice ... I’ve decided to refuse the application. I am providing that information today to allow matters to move on in an expeditious way in the ordinary course and which I would expect the next step to be the trial.”